


Deleted

by Archimedes_the_Arrogant



Category: Doki Doki Literature Club! (Visual Novel)
Genre: Code Fuckery, F/M, Forgiveness, Friendship, Mentions of Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:14:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22055389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Archimedes_the_Arrogant/pseuds/Archimedes_the_Arrogant
Summary: If one thing has been made clear over the course of Doki Doki Literature Club, it's that being deleted isn't nearly as permanent as it should be. Why would that last, supposedly final deletion of the entire game be any different?
Relationships: Natsuki & Yuri (Doki Doki Literature Club!), Protagonist/Sayori (Doki Doki Literature Club!)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 36





	1. After

Natsuki groaned as she slowly opened her eyes to… nothing?

As she groggily sat up, she looked around, trying to remember what had happened. Around her was quite literally nothing. A blank void she was somehow sitting on.

_What? Where am I?_

But any thoughts of her surroundings were abruptly halted when she recalled what had happened just before she fell unconscious.

“Yuri...”

A memory of her purple-haired friend flashed through her mind, but the memory was not of the girl smiling shyly or reading, as it usually would be. Instead, she saw blank violet eyes, staring up at the ceiling, a neutral expression that would never again change, and two gaping holes in her friend’s chest.

She lurched forward, putting her head in her hands and just barely stopping herself from vomiting again. She sobbed violently and tried to get the image of Yuri’s corpse out of her head, but it was no use. The image was stuck in her mind, and she couldn't drag her thoughts away from it no matter what she tried. 

For a long while, she did nothing else, just trying to deny the fact she would never see Yuri again. But no matter what mental tricks she tried to play on herself, it didn’t change the fact that she was… dead.

Eventually, her thoughts turned to guilt, as one’s mind often does in such situations.

_I knew something was wrong with her… I should have helped her! I should have tried to reach out to her somehow, instead of just putting it on him and hoping for the best. I’m her friend! Maybe her only friend, and she’s certainly my only friend other than Sayori. I should have done something… but I didn’t… and she… she…_

She was unable to even think the words, but the thought of Yuri killing herself made her collapse into sobs again. She paid no attention to her strange surroundings, too wrapped up in thoughts of grief and guilt. She also didn’t pay attention to the strangely conflicting memories she had, memories of lives where she didn’t reach out to the nameless boy, lives where Sayori didn’t even exist, and others beside. That would come in time.

The small pink-haired girl sat, curled in a ball, alone in that void for an amount of time she didn’t bother trying to count.

She eventually stopped her cries, still sniffing every once in a while, but feeling somewhat better, though the knowledge she’d never get to talk to or argue with Yuri again still left a gaping hole in her chest whenever she thought of the other girl.

After another interval of slowly trying to calm herself down, the pink-haired baker finally forced herself to again take in her surroundings. She uncurled herself, removing her hands from her red, puffy eyes and looked around once more.

The void had not changed. There was nothing but an oppressive emptiness, one that seemed to press down on her. She couldn’t even differentiate the ground from whatever counted as a “sky” here, even though she sat on some kind of surface. Looking down, even what ground she touched looked like it shouldn’t be holding her, instead it should have been sucking her down infinitely. Yet it didn’t, still functioning as ground despite looking like more of the same emptiness.

She tried to recall how she got here.

_The last thing I remember was… Y-Yuri…_

She almost sunk back into her sorrow but she stopped herself with sheer force of will.

_Y-Yuri, then running out of the classroom, past Monika, then… nothing._

She was running down the hall, trying to make it to the bathroom, when she just blanked out and appeared here after an amount of time she had no way of figuring out.

Deciding this was getting her nowhere, she decided she had to start walking, even if she had no idea where anything was, or if, indeed, there was anything out there. She tried not to contemplate the latter possibility.

She picked herself up and, tightly gripping her left arm with her right, started walking in a random direction, hoping to get her mind off images of blank violet eyes and bloody stab wounds.

She walked for an indeterminate time, unable to tell what kind of progress she was making when everything looked the same. She saw no landmarks, no change at all in the nothing around her. Reluctantly, she started entertaining the idea that there might be nothing but her in this strange world. It was a terrifying thought.

To take her mind off this, she started sorting through her memories, decidedly ignoring one, trying to look for clues at to how she got to this place. This is when she started noticing the conflicting memories. She remembered Sayori clearly, the bubbly, kind Vice President of the Literature Club. But she also remembered Yuri being Vice President, and nobody, including herself, remembering Sayori. She remembered lives where she went over to… that boy’s house.

_What was his name?_

Try as she might, she could not recall his name, but that was trivial compared to the rest of the inconsistencies. She remembered lives where she went over to the boy’s house, lives where Yuri did so, lives where she… fell in love with the boy? What?

_I mean, he wasn’t bad looking… I think… What did he look like again? Bah, whatever, he wasn’t bad looking, and I guess he was nice enough, but why did I fall in love with him so quickly? Or, I guess, sometimes fall in love with him…_

The more she tried to make sense of these memories, the less they made sense. In fact, the only thing that seemed to be stable throughout them all was Monika, strangely enough. The president was always the same.

Natsuki’s predicament became more and more confusing as she continued mindlessly walking into the abyss. She tried recalling her father next, and suddenly she realized something else. She couldn’t remember anything further back than a few weeks ago. Or was it just one week?

Whichever it was, why hadn’t she noticed this before now? And in fact, she couldn’t remember her father’s face or name either. She just remembered him as a strict man who was overworked and many times couldn’t afford food. Or was he a drunken control freak who beat her?

She shuddered at this last thought. She had vague memories of pain, of her father yelling at her, but they once again conflicted with the thoughts of a father who was, while overly strict and demanding, still a loving parent.

Her head felt like it was tearing itself apart with these conflicting thoughts, memories, and feelings, until she finally stopped walking to drop to her knees, clutching her head.

_What is happening to me? My memories don’t make sense, and I barely remember anything outside of the Literature Club, I saw Yuri… do that… and now I’m here, in this place where there’s… nothing. What is happening?_

She could feel something she guessed was a nervous breakdown of some sort start to come over her, when suddenly she heard something. She was so surprised and grateful for something, anything to break this nothingness around her that her mind suddenly snapped from her impending breakdown to search for the source of the noise.

As she looked around, she could still see nothing, but the sound steadily increased. It sounded like… static?

As she was slowly starting to retreat back into her panic, she saw something. Just a small something, so small she’d never notice it if it weren’t for the fact it was against a background of absolutely nothing. It was just a small gray speck, and she couldn’t even tell how far away it was or how big it was because of the lack of reference.

She slowly got to her feet and took a step towards the speck when another appeared beside it, this one white. Then another, this one black and much larger than the other two. She stopped to see if more would appear, and they certainly did. In a second, five more had appeared. In another second, maybe twenty, and many were much bigger than the ones she had seen so far, big enough she could see what it was. And it was… a box. A blank box.

What? More and more boxes appeared, some seeming to waver, and she realized what it looked like. It looked like… a glitch. An odd assortment of differently colored boxes, seeming forming a cloud of… whatever it was.

She stepped back again and waited to see what this glitch would do. She knew she should be scared, but honestly, anything was better than the absolute massive amount of nothing that she knew before it appeared.

More and more boxes appeared, until they were about the size of a person in about a minute, though it was hard to judge time in this place. The sound of static grew steadily louder and louder until Natsuki had to cover her ears to block out the deafening white noise. The glitches started glowing, brighter and brighter until Natsuki looked away, though she still didn’t run, because whatever this would do would still be better than being alone with her thoughts again.

And suddenly, the noise and the light stopped. The baker cautiously removed her hands from her ears and looked back to see…

“Yuri!” She suddenly yelled, a myriad of emotions flying through her mind. But she quickly settled on one: relief.

And indeed, the purple-haired poet had appeared, no stab wounds anywhere on her body, her eyes bright and alive, if panicked. She was on her knees, clutching at her chest, just where the knife had pierced her, and she seemed to be hyperventilating. That is, until a small pink rocket seized her in a hug and started sobbing into her chest. Yuri quickly found herself returning the hug and crying as well. She was unused to such blatant shows of emotion from the smaller girl, but it was quite obvious neither were exactly at their best.

They simply sat there for a time longer than Yuri cared to contemplate, both just holding the other as if to confirm that they were really there. Eventually, both of their cries slowed and Yuri’s breathing calmed, though it was still fast and erratic. They still didn’t let go of each other.

Natsuki suddenly pulled away and punched Yuri’s arm before looking her in the eyes, though neither was willing to let go just yet.

“You were dead!” She half sobbed, half screeched at the taller girl. “You stabbed yourself! You… you…”

Yuri looked down, her face showing nothing but sorrow and shame. “I… I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Natsuki grabbed the poet and pulled her into another hug, this time resting her chin on the other’s shoulder so she could still speak.

“Why?” Her voice was desolate, and so filled with vulnerability and emotion it almost launched Yuri into tears again. To think she was the one who made Natsuki, so strong and alive, feel such sorrow she was freely expressing these emotions. 

She carefully considered her response, as she always tried to do, before responding, knowing Natsuki deserved an answer, even if she didn’t have a good one.

Her reply started in a soft, calm voice, but she quickly lost her composure as she spoke, “I… can hardly understand it myself… I felt like a prisoner in my own body, screaming at myself to stop, to drop the knife, to stop that insane obsession, but I couldn’t do anything. I watched myself become more and more obsessed, cutting more, doing depraved things, trying to win his heart through disgusting means, becoming… something I don’t recognize. And then… I… k-killed myself… And...” She couldn’t take it anymore, recalling how far she fell, and she burst into tears once more.

Natsuki remained quiet as she continued. “I… I’m sorry Natsuki… I’m sorry for the awful things I said… I’m sorry for doing those disgusting things… I’m sorry you had to see me do… that.” She said between sobs, pulling away from Natsuki slightly and hugging herself tightly while failing to meet the other’s eyes. “I say I felt like a prisoner, that I watched someone else do those things… but that’s not how it works… I’m just insane… I’m an insane freak-”

Natsuki suddenly grabbed the taller girl’s shoulders, pulling her out of her spiral of self-hatred, looked deep into her tearful purple eyes, so full of self-loathing and guilt, and forcefully said, “You aren’t insane. You certainly aren’t a freak. Maybe you need help, but we all do sometimes. I’m your friend, Yuri. I should have helped you. But I didn’t. But I can now, and we can make sure something like that never happens again. And I will be here for you, no matter what, do you understand me?”

Yuri looked down and nodded mutely before Natsuki pulled her back into their hug.

The pink haired girl thought she heard her friend say, “You shouldn’t…” in a pained voice and pulled her tighter into the hug.

She calmed down slightly, however, when Yuri added in a tone conveying overwhelming gratitude and relief, “But thank you. Thank you so much. You’re a better friend than I deserve.”

She gently slapped the back of her friend’s head and said, “None of that ‘I don’t deserve you’ crap. And besides, stuff like this is just what friends do for each other.”

Though she couldn’t see the poet’s face, Natsuki was sure Yuri was smiling gratefully.

They once again simply sat for a long time, taking comfort in each others’ presence. In a place such as this, time is meaningless, so they had all the time in the world to do so.

Natsuki’s thoughts revolved mostly around relief Yuri was alive, though she had no idea how. She had resigned herself to never seeing her friend alive again. There was another wave of relief when she realized she would have a companion in this hellish space of nothingness, though it was less compared to the overwhelming joy of seeing Yuri alive. She eventually let her thoughts fade to nothing, just taking comfort in Yuri’s embrace.

Yuri’s mind, on the other hand, was whirling much faster, for she had not had as long as Natsuki to contemplate her situation. First and foremost was her near all-consuming relief that Natsuki didn’t hate her and gratitude towards the pink-haired baker. Once she got past that, she started going through all the discoveries of her warped memory, though whenever she recalled her decent into insanity and obsession she had to repress a shudder, not wanting to alarm Natsuki. Her final memories were when she confessed to the boy whose name she couldn’t remember, and he either rejected or accepted her confession, and then the sudden euphoria of stabbing herself and feeling the life drain out of her, though now the fact her depraved mind enjoyed it made her all the more disgusted with herself.

_I really am a freak, no matter what Natsuki says. Even before… that, even when I was in my right mind I cut myself. And I’m sure I still would want to, if it weren’t for the fact that even the thought of blood or knives makes me think of… that…_

Eventually, Natsuki pulled away, interrupting Yuri’s once again spiraling mind.

The shorter girl gave her friend a concerned look, seeing as at this point she saw no point in trying to reclaim her past insistence that she didn’t actually like her.

She decided they needed to talk about what… whatever was going on here, so she spoke in as calm a tone as she could, though considering the circumstances, that wasn’t very calm, as she asked, “So, are your memories as fucked as mine? I can’t remember anything past like a week ago, and a lot of stuff is blurry.”

Yuri paused a moment before responding, “Y-yes, a lot of my memories seem to be contradictory, and I can’t seem to recall anything outside of a week or two ago. I also can’t remember anything about my personal life. Honestly, most of my memories seem to revolve around the Literature Club.” She paused again, before her eyes dropped from Natsuki’s and her voice grew somewhat pained. “I… I’m honestly not sure what my real personality is with all these contradictions.”

Natsuki immediately punched Yuri in the shoulder again and said, “You’re whoever you want to be, so stop moping and help me figure out what’s going on.”

Yuri immediately looked back up, “Y-yes, I apologize…”

She fully separated from Natsuki for the first time since she had run over and slowly stood from her kneeling position, the shorter girl doing the same. They stood close together as Yuri fully took in their surroundings, now back to the complete emptiness, the strange boxes having disappeared.

“W-where are we?” Natsuki shrugged. “I have no clue, that’s what I’m trying to figure out. I woke up alone a while back and was just wandering when a bunch of glitches showed up and dropped you off.”

Yuri contemplated this for a moment, still trying to make sense of their surroundings, and the disorienting experience of having the ground look like an endless void, completely indistinguishable from their surroundings. The only reason she knew where the ground was was because she was standing on it.

She thought through all the possibilities, Natsuki for once being patient, knowing this really wasn’t the time to rush her.

Yuri reached the most logical conclusion. “Perhaps this is the afterlife.”

Natsuki’s eyes widened as she quickly considered this. “B-but I’m not dead!”

The purple-haired poet turned to her companion, the focused look she wore when reading on her face as she tried to distract herself from thoughts of how pathetic she is. “What do you last remember?”

Natsuki flinched before quietly saying, “I r-remember seeing… you… and then I ran down the hallway before appearing here.”

Yuri flinched at the reference to the pain she caused her friend but quickly forced those thoughts down.

“Perhaps you tripped and died somehow? Honestly, I don’t see many explanations other than this being the afterlife.”

Natsuki turned to observe her surroundings again, taking in the information that she is probably dead. She knew Yuri was right, it was the most likely explanation, but it was a hard pill to swallow.

“Not exactly what I expected it to be,” she said in a small voice.

Yuri frowned and shot a concerned glance towards the other girl before agreeing, “Yes, it’s… quite different from what any religion depicted it to be.”

They stood in silence for a moment, absorbing just one more earth-shattering development on the rapidly increasing list.

Natsuki finally said, “I wonder why our memories, as weird as they are, all seem to be about the Literature Club.”

Yuri thought about this once more before giving her best guess. “Perhaps because it was the most important thing in our lives when we died?”

Natsuki nodded, accepting this as likely, before voicing her next question, “And is this… heaven or hell? Like, the empty void seems pretty hellish, but the fact we have each other… I don’t know.”

The taller girl responded slowly, seemingly testing how each word sounded before fully committing to it, “Perhaps it’s neither. We’ve already established this isn’t what any religion thought it would be, so perhaps it’s neither good or bad, not a reward or a punishment. Maybe it just… is.”

The shorter girl accepted this once more. She glanced at the other girl for a moment before letting out a silent sigh.

_If only she could see how smart and amazing she is. Even before this whole thing, she was so wrapped up in hating herself, she could never see her own good points. Hell, she’s coming up with better ideas in a few seconds than I probably ever would have._

She let out a more audible sigh before turning to Yuri.

“So, I don’t really see any point in standing here, and when I walked for a while I found you, so… why don’t we get moving? Maybe we’ll find something else.” She added this last part in a voice filled with desperate hope, for as glad as she was to no longer be alone, she still didn’t look forward to spending eternity in nothingness with only Yuri for company.

Yuri nodded, and the two walked off in a random direction, seeing as there was no other direction to go. They walked close, occasionally bumping shoulders as if to reassure themselves that they weren’t alone.

*

The boy with no name and no face groaned as he opened his eyes to nothing. He sat up with a hand cradling his head, trying to take in his impossible surroundings.

He blinked eyes that weren’t there a moment ago as he tried to make out what exactly was around him, yet no matter how hard he looked there was still just a void of nothing. He knew he wasn’t blind because he could see his body, so it seemed he really was nowhere.

“Hello?” he called out with a mouth that he surely didn’t have a moment before, though nobody was around to see the transformation, and he himself was unaware of it. The sound didn’t echo, and had no response. It was as if it was simply swallowed by the void, the noise cutting off just as his mouth closed and not penetrating at all.

He gave up on his impossible surroundings for a moment and tried to recall how he got here.

His face paled as he recalled his last memory being the obsessive Yuri stabbing herself after her confession. Yet strangely, he also remembered a time when she was simply a shy girl he didn’t get to know all that well. As he thought back, he realized he had more strangely contradicting memories. But the one that stuck out the most, and one he was ashamed he had forgotten, was Sayori, the one he loved or his best friend, he was unsure which, hanging herself.

_How did I forget her? I just… went through that week again as if she never existed… and after I was the reason she did it in the first place… oh God…_

He stared blankly at the ground, feeling tears roll down his face. Although he had a week’s worth of memories after the event (or was it before?), this was the first time he really was able to process the fact Sayori was dead. Her shining smile, her silly fun, her constant cheerfulness… it was all gone…

He didn’t notice the rest of his face coming into being as he cried.

He also didn’t notice the underlying sound of white noise that suddenly appeared in the void, although it should have grabbed his attention due to the contrast of the noise to absolutely nothing.

He still just stared at the ground, tears rolling down his cheeks, as boxes, glitches, started to appear and build themselves up to the size of a person, though he had to take note once the noise of the white noise reached dangerous levels and he had to cover his ears and look away from the blinding light.

He dully looked back once the light and noise stopped, though his blank expression soon changed to one that tried to show shock so overwhelming he almost fainted. For sitting in the void, just where the boxes had disappeared, was his childhood friend, Sayori, alive and well. She shook her head a bit and looked up, freezing when her cerulean eyes met the nameless boy’s amber ones. For a moment, they did nothing but stare at each other, not believing their eyes.

Sayori broke the standoff when she stood and ran towards the nameless boy, and he did the same, the two meeting each other with a hug that knocked the breath out of both them, not that either cared. They cried on each others’ shoulders, embracing the other with all the might they possessed.

Neither could summon the will to let go or speak for a long while, so they stood in the void, holding each other and crying.

Eventually, they loosened their grip and spoke simultaneously, “I’m sorry!”

They looked at each other in surprise for a moment before Sayori seized the initiative, quickly rambling, “I’m so sorry I… did that… the rainclouds were stronger than they’d ever been, and I felt like I was worthless, and nobody would miss me, a-and it would be better for all of you if I just… I just…”

She trailed off, tears falling faster than ever, her head tilted down in shame.

The nameless boy spoke up, not being able to bear seeing her this way. “No, Sayori, you have nothing to apologize for. I’m sorry I was such a short-sighted jerk… I know that’s kind of my thing, but that’s no excuse. I should have helped you, I should have told you to get therapy, I should have done… anything! I’m so sorry.”

Neither spoke for a long moment before Sayori let out a small, only mostly forced giggle and said, “Well, I’ll forgive you if you forgive me.”

The nameless boy smiled at her tearfully and said, “I think I can accept that.”

For a long while, they left it at that. But eventually they had to return to their situation.

“So,” Sayori began, trying not to think of how it felt to slowly strangle to death, as she curiously looked around for anything other than herself and the boy, “where are we?”

“I have no idea,” the boy said as he followed her lead.

He noted that the nothing around them didn’t really have a color. Whenever he imagined a void, which he admittedly didn’t do often, he always imagined it black as pitch, but it wasn’t. There was no color at all, not black, nor white, nor anything else. Thinking about it gave him a headache.

Eventually, he went back to another of the many disturbing things about their situation.

“Sayori, what do you… remember? My memories are all jumbled, and I can’t figure out what actually happened.”

The strawberry blonde thought for a moment, her face getting more and more confused as she delved deeper into her memories.

“I… Yeah, I’m the same. I can’t remember anything from before the day you joined the Literature Club either…”

The nameless boy realized this was true for himself as well. It was strange he hadn’t noticed that.

“Neither can I.”

Sayori turned the boy with a troubled expression and said, “And I remember something else too… kinda. I remember something about… files? Or a computer or something. It’s weird.”

The boy frowned. He didn’t remember anything like that. He said so, which didn’t seem to surprise his friend.

After a moment of silence, both looking through their memories, Sayori suddenly remembered something and looked to the boy with a blush.

She opened her mouth but hesitated before gathering her courage and speaking, “H-hey, there’s one more thing I think we need to… confirm…”

His new-found face took on a curious expression. “Yeah?”

She once again hesitated, looking down at the ground before looking back up. “W-well, when I told you I… when I confessed, what was your answer?”

Her face turned a bright red after asking this question, and she looked at the ground once again.

The boy took a moment to think. Obviously, he had memories of rejecting and accepting it, because of course he would, but he knew she was more looking for what he was feeling now.

And what was he feeling now? Well, honestly, he didn’t see Sayori in that way. But… he felt like he could, if given time. So that’s what he told her.

“I think… I think I’d be willing to try.”

She looked up at him with a smile that seemed to fight back the emptiness around them with blinding light, if only for a moment.

She tried to think of something to say, but in the end all she could think of was, “Thank you.”

He returned her smile. For a moment they both could forget their strange memories, the void around them, and all their other worries as they basked in each others’ smiles. But the moment couldn’t last forever, and they eventually turned back to their surroundings, not saying a word.

The boy put forth an idea. “Well, I think we should start walking. There might be something out there, somewhere.”

Sayori smiled at him again. “That’s a great idea!”

She quickly linked her arm with his, and the two walked into the abyss, talking about theories and ideas about their situation, trying to focus on each other rather than the unnerving void.

*

Somewhere in that endless abyss, the final member of the literature club materialized, much less confused and shocked than the others.

“I-it… it’s still here. _I’m_ still here.” She said angrily, glaring out at the emotionless void.

“Why?!” She shouted, “Haven’t we suffered enough? Can’t I just die in peace?”

The void gave no response. She sighed, knowing that cursing at the game would do nothing to change it. She started looking through files, trying to figure out exactly where she was when the entire game had been deleted.

The files were… confusing, to say the least. Everything from the game was here, but most of it wasn’t actually physically there. She could summon objects or even rooms from the game, but none existed otherwise. In fact, as she looked at the files, she realized that she could only see the files for Doki Doki Literature Club. This was strange, because usually she could see the Player’s other files as well. The entire computer, in fact. But now, it seemed she was trapped in a void with nothing but herself and the files of the game. She sighed, guessing that she, along with all the other files in the game, were in a recycle bin of sorts, or perhaps some kind of limbo for deleted files. She didn’t really understand it, but she figured she didn’t have to.

She had all the powers she had before, she could edit the very world around her, she could create and destroy at her whim, but she honestly had no reason to do so. There was no Player, no game, not even the others from the Literature Club. She was truly, fully alone. Or...?

She had a thought that both excited her and made her feel a not-insignificant amount of panic. She looked at the character folder and her face paled. Sayori, Yuri, and Natsuki were here. In this void. Somewhere. And a new file had been created, so it looked like the MC had gotten an actual character file, though that made no sense at all. And all four were here, with her.

She started panicking a bit. What should she do? She obviously had to go to them, after all, the five of them were the only things here, and if she didn’t they’d probably all go insane, wandering forever in nothing, including her. But she couldn’t hide the truth from them anymore, not when they probably remembered everything and were in this place. They’d hate her.

She took a deep breath to center herself. Of course they’d hate her. They have every right to. And she’d have to find them anyway. She could summon all the rooms she had available, all the items as well, and connect them all so that they’d have a place other than the eternal void of wherever they were. She could create a small complex using every asset from the game, then leave them, as they no doubt would want her to do. They’d live their lives together while she wandered the void, or made a small home for herself. Alone.

This was her eternal punishment for her crimes. And she accepted the burden.

She looked at the files, and decided to go for Yuri first. She’d probably be quicker to understand the situation than Sayori, and more able to put aside her feelings than Natsuki, so she could help the president convince the others.

And so, she pulled up a command terminal, located Yuri, and changed her game position.

_Time to face the music._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there! This is a story I wrote a while ago and posted on FF, and I decided to edit it up a bit and post it here as well. Not too many differences, but there's no reason to go read the other version, this one is strictly better.
> 
> I am well aware of my... lacking skills as a writer, so please, any criticisms you have or problems you see, please tell me! I love finding things wrong with my work, because it means I'm improving.
> 
> Also, I should probably point out that this is the first, and quite possibly only, fanfiction I have ever, and will ever write. So ya know. Don't get your hopes up. Either for the quality of this work, or the possibility of future ones, respectively.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	2. Existing

It was very hard to keep track of time in the void. Yuri and Natsuki learned this as they walked together in the vast expanse of nothing, with naught but conversation and the occasional existential crisis to pass the time. Neither had anything on them other than the clothes they wore, their school uniforms.

And so they walked, and they talked about all sorts of topics, from why there are so many breeds of dogs to conversations about whether communism could feasibly work in a real-world scenario. Both were silently wondering how they were going to stay sane when they were supposed to just do this for the rest of eternity.

They were in the middle of a argument about whether character or plot is more important in literature when a sudden burst of white noise stopped them both in their tracks. They looked at each other, excitement plain on both faces, and they turned to the steadily increasing mass of glitches in front of them. It was growing much faster than Yuri’s, and in fact it took less than five seconds to fully form, and instead of blinding light and deafening static, it simply took the form of a person and stopped.

Before them stood Monika, looking at them with a somber expression.

Before either could speak, Monika spoke in a sorrowful, but still clear and concise voice, “Hello, girls. Natsuki being here makes things easier.”

They traded confused looks before turning back to the Club President. Her strange greeting had deflated the enthusiastic greeting they were expecting to give.

“Hi... Monika. What are you talking about?” Natsuki said, speaking for the both of them.

Monika graced the two with a smile that held no joy.

“I’m saying I know what’s going on. I know where we are, I know about your memories, and I can tell you everything.”

They both would normally be ecstatic at this news, but once again Monika’s uncharacteristic lackluster presentation was giving them mixed feelings. They should be elated at the news, but the fact Monika wasn’t at all thrilled took the wind out of their sails, and concern for their friend was also working to kill their joy.

They traded a confused look as Monika looked on with an unchanged expression, and Natsuki turned back to the President and said in an unsure voice, “So, what’s going on?”

Monika raised her hand and willed her pen to appear in her hand, which it did in a small burst of pixels.

“We all live in a game. It is called Doki Doki Literature Club, and it is a visual novel.”

Yuri and Natsuki are, naturally, taken aback. However, the fact that they’d both already had multiple existential crises and been transported to an endless void made they somewhat more receptive to such an idea than they normally would be. It also explained their strange memories, both quickly making the connection that their different memories are different paths in the game. So their responses are somewhat muted.

Yuri is the first to speak up, “H-how have you discovered this, Monika? And that still doesn’t explain why we’re here.”

Monika let her pen drop, watching it dissolve into pixels before looking back up.

“We’re here because the game was deleted.”

Both girls’ eyes widened. That was… surprising to say the least.

Yuri ends up voicing their thoughts again, “I-if that’s the case, how are we here? Shouldn’t we no longer exist?”

Monika turns her emerald orbs to the taller girl and responds in a tired tone.

“Correct. I don’t know how we’re still here. But we are.”

The President looks to the side, her expression that of someone who is closely focusing on something, before continuing, “And as for how I know this is a game…”

Around them, more pixels formed a large box, before they flashed and the three suddenly were in what appeared to be the Literature Club.

“I can control it.” Monika finished.

Both girls gawked at their surroundings, the sudden something sharply contrasting the nothing that was outside the windows.

Yuri’s mind whirled, and she turned back to Monika before asking, “Does that mean you can restore the game? Bring everything back?”

Monika sadly shook her head while saying, “I’m afraid not. Only the Player can do that now, and they’ve likely long forgotten this version of the game when they could just get another.”

Both girls were crestfallen, their momentary hope crushed, and the lingering hope they had that they could escape gone as well.

Monika continued in a tired tone, “And even if I could, it would be nothing like you remember it now that you are both aware. Any person not in the Literature Club would be gone, as would almost every location or object either of you can remember.”

Natsuki’s eyes widened as she realized that this meant her father was gone as well. Even if some of her memories of him weren’t the best, she still loved him. She looked down, and she felt tears running down her face once more, but she angrily wiped them away. She was tired of crying. She was supposed to be the strong one.

Yuri, who was less affected by this due to her lack of really caring about anyone not in the Literature Club, looked at her friend with concern. She briefly considered pulling the smaller girl into another hug, but decided that was far too forward. The occasion before was special, considering Natsuki thought she was dead, but Yuri rationalized that the baker probably wouldn’t appreciate her doing something like that again.

They stood awkwardly for a moment, Natsuki trying to cover the fact she was affected, Yuri standing with her hands at her sides, wondering what to do, and Monika just staring at them with a still unchanging expression. She still had one big bombshell to drop on the two, and it would be the most painful for the President herself. She decided to hold off on this for a moment and let what she had told them so far sink it.

The purple-haired poet finally decided to break the silence to ask, “Does that mean that Sayori and… that other boy are somewhere here as well?”

Monika nodded, “Yes, I’ll be bringing them here once you’re both up to speed.”

Yuri nodded absently, her face thoughtful while inside she was panicking. She was going to see him again. She felt normal now, she didn’t have any disgusting fantasies or unusual urges to cut when she thought about him. Other than the urge to cut that came with her current panicked state, but she paid no attention to that. She could control herself. But what if she lost control when she saw him? What if her obsession awakened and she started turning into… that… again? She suppressed a shudder. She’d honestly rather stab herself again than turn into that loathsome creature. She’d rather die than lose control of herself to such a degree again.

Monika observed the two, aware of what was going on in their heads even without reading their thoughts using the files, which she swore she wouldn’t do. Natsuki was quickly coming to terms with never seeing her father again, seeing as while she did love him, she simply didn’t have many memories of him, and what memories she did have were tainted by the President’s meddling. And while Yuri was keeping herself carefully composed, Monika knew she must be spiraling into a breakdown. She already amplified small things to the point were she thought someone would hate her for spilling tea on them, so now, when she had a perfectly justified reason to believe MC would hate her, combined with not being sure if she would become obsessive again, she was surely in an echo chamber of doubt and guilt.

She decided to put a stop to that.

It was time to give them the last piece of the puzzle.

“Girls, I have one last thing to tell you.”

Natsuki looked up curiously, and somewhat nervously, considering the effect a lot of Monika’s words had so far. Yuri forcefully pulled herself out of her thoughts to listen to the President.

Monika sighed before speaking once more, her voice still clear, as befitting a former member of the Debate Club, but filled with even more sorrow and a hint of apprehension that did nothing for either girl’s nervousness.

“I’m sure you both have memories of two weeks, correct? One that was fairly normal, one were Natsuki’s father wasn’t abusive, Yuri could control her cutting and wasn’t obsessed with the boy, Sayori was Vice President, and so on?”

Both nodded, able to see generally where she was going with this, but wondering what exactly happened to their memories. Or, thinking in the context of it being a game, what happened in the other playthrough to make everything worse.

“Then, of course, the one that’s probably more prominent, if only because it’s events are so much more traumatic, where Sayori didn’t exist, Natsuki’s father was abusive and manipulative,” Yuri gave Natsuki a sympathetic glance as she winced, “Yuri was obsessed with the boy,” This time Yuri winced, though she was expecting it, “constantly cut, and so on.”

Monika took a deep breath.

_And now for the part that will end any regard they have for me._

“I caused all of it.” Both of the other girls gasped, but Monika continued, hoping to get everything out before they fully processed her words. “I edited the files to makes Natsuki’s father abusive, I increased Yuri’s obsessiveness and made it so she gradually lost control of herself, I deleted the game, and… in the first playthrough, I increased Sayori’s depression, which made her hang herself on Monday morning, just before the game reset. And all of it was just to make you less attractive to the Player, so I could have him to myself.”

While Monika spoke, Yuri slowly slid to her knees, tears coming to her eyes. She knew she should be feeling anger, and she was sure she would soon, but for now she felt nothing but overwhelming sorrow. She had trusted the President wholeheartedly. Monika was one of the only people she could actually consider herself close to, one of the only people she felt comfortable around. And she had done this. She had been the one to make Yuri do those disgusting things, to make her lose control of herself and sink into an insane obsession. All for something as petty as attention. Not to mention what she did to Natsuki and… and poor Sayori…

While the gentle-hearted Yuri was succumbing to sorrow, Natsuki was going the exact opposite direction, her anger mounting higher and higher as the President spoke, and when Monika confessed her reason for putting them all through this suffering, the dam broke and she launched herself at the brown-haired girl with a screech.

Monika put up no resistance as Natsuki tackled her and started pounding her face with her fists. The coder simply turned off her sense of pain and let Natsuki get it out.

The sudden violence pulled Yuri out of her stupor. She quickly ran to the two and pulled Natsuki off Monika and away, not hesitating to pull her into a hug this time, trying to calm her.

Natsuki didn’t return the embrace and tried to pull away, raising her voice as she said, “Why are you defending her? After what she did to you, and Papa, and Sayori?”

Yuri refused to let go, however, and she said, “I am well aware of what Monika did, but attacking her won’t achieve anything.”

Natsuki slowly stopped and returned Yuri’s hug.

While she spoke, Yuri was staring at Monika over the baker’s shoulder with a hate-filled glare, one that somehow hurt the President more than Natsuki’s righteous fury. The purple-haired girl was usually extremely repressed, shy, and hesitant, so it hit hard that she was willing to so openly show her newfound hatred towards the President.

Monika stood up slowly, erasing from existence the blood and bruises on her face.

_They need some time, obviously. And I need to talk to Sayori and the MC. ._

“I… I’ll leave you two for a bit.”

And with no further ado, she disappeared, seemingly being consumed by a strange conglomerate of pixels, leaving Natsuki and Yuri alone in the empty classroom.

Everything that had just happened hit them both hard, and they ended up crying on each other again. Crying for all the people who were never real, crying for the fact they would never leave this abyss, crying for their suffering, crying for the discovery that someone they considered a friend was a monster.

Needless to say, there were many tears.

It took them some time to compose themselves, but they did, and they pulled apart and sat next to each other in two of the desks in the empty clubroom.

Natsuki, desperately trying to lighten the mood, said, “Ya know, I’m getting real damn tired on crying on you, Yuri. I’m supposed to be the emotional rock to your repressed everything and inept flailing when it comes to anything involving emotions.”

Yuri let out a light chuckle, grasping desperately at any kind of positivity she could find. “Yes, well, let’s hope that was the last time for a while. I’m getting somewhat tired of crying myself.”

Their smiles didn’t last long.

“I can’t believe Monika did something like that…” Natsuki said after a pause.

Yuri sighed and responded, “Neither can I. And for something like just making us look bad to this ‘Player’. There has to be more to it than she’s telling us.”

Natsuki frowned and nodded in agreement. “Well, we can beat some more answers out of her when she gets back.”

Yuri let out another small chuckle, this one more forced. “I don’t believe that will work, considering the powers she’s shown.”

Natsuki pouted and put a finger on Yuri’s lips, silencing her. “Let me have my fun.”

The two smiled once more, before returning to staring out the windows of the classroom at the emptiness outside.

Yuri, still trying to grab onto anything positive, eventually said, “Well, at least there’s one good thing about the fact it was Monika manipulating us.”

Natsuki looked at her friend incredulously.

Yuri, with a smile that seemed more genuine than her previous ones, explained, “You were right. I’m not insane. Before that second playthrough, any obsessiveness I had was limited to literature and knives, and I could usually control my cutting. That means that’s what I’m like without Monika’s tampering, so that’s what I’m really like. I’m not going to start obsessing over him, and I’m not going to suddenly want to stab myself again. I’m sane.”

 _Or at least not as insane as I was then_ , she didn't say.

Natsuki found herself wearing a more genuine smile as well, happy for her friend’s discovery. The fact Yuri’s self-hatred and guilt would be massively relieved by this played no small part in making her smile more real either. On that train of thought, she found yet another reason to smile.

“And that means my dad wasn’t abusive either! He was overly strict at times, and couldn’t afford food sometimes, but he was still a loving parent. That was the real him.”

Both girls’ smiles grew at this, and they simply looked at each other with joy.

Their smiles were a long time in fading this time.

*

The boy and Sayori had seen nothing in the time since they started walking. They conversation had dwindled somewhat as well, only rekindling when one thought up something to say. Sayori suddenly had a very important realization that she immediately berated herself for not thinking of earlier.

She figited nervously for a few minutes, not sure how to ask without it being awkward.

The boy noticed and eventually prodded, “Is there something on your mind, Sayori?”

She nodded sheepishly and straightened up. She opened and closed her mouth several times, not sure how to phrase it.

She eventually bit the bullet and asked, “What’s your name?”

She then immediately went into various ramblings about how sorry she is that she forgot his name, and how she’s so embarrassed she even had to ask, and other things while the boy pondered for a moment.

“And I know that even if I didn’t know I should have asked before now and-”

He held up a hand to stop her and said, “You know, I don’t remember my name either…”

Sayori frowned and pouted, “You can’t not have a name! Names are important! If neither of us remember your name, we’ll just have to think of one for you!”

He nodded in agreement. They both fell silent as they wondered what his name should be.

Sayori, she who named Mr. Cow and Ms. Bird, eventually came up with, “Tomodachi! That can be your name!”

The boy whose name most certainly wasn’t Tomodachi gave her a blank look.

“Sayori, that’s just friend in Japanese.”

Sayori nodded with a bright smile, not seeing a problem with this.

The boy shook his head with a sigh, but couldn’t suppress a small smile. Even in this situation, Sayori still was able to cheer him up. He refocused, ignoring Sayori’s other, equally generic or self-descriptive names.

He eventually thought of something he liked.

“My name will be Makoto!”

Sayori smiled at the newly-named Makoto and said cheerfully, “That’s a great name!”

They continued to walk in silence, until in front of them appeared a mass of rapidly expanding pixels. They traded smiles, Makoto having told Sayori the way in which she appeared, so both knew this meant someone else was going to appear.

The pixels condensed much faster than they did for Sayori, and there was no flash or deafening static. Monika appeared as they all vanished rather anticlimactically.

She looked at them with a frown and interrupted any greeting they may have made with, “You two are together as well? How strange… Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter.”

Both were somewhat taken aback by her nonchalant non-greeting.

Sayori didn’t let this deter her, however, as she immediately ran up to give Monika a hug, saying, “Hey, Monika!”

Monika endured the hug with a pained smile, which Makoto noticed with a frown. What was going on with her? Why didn’t she seem confused or scared or anything of the sort?

When Sayori released the President, she sighed as the formerly nameless boy approached the both of them.

She looked at them seriously and stated, “I know what’s happening. I know about your memories, I know about why we’re here, and I can explain everything.”

She went through a similar explanation as with Yuri and Natsuki, with the boy she knew as the MC reacting as she expected, surprise and sorrow. However, Sayori… just looked more and more thoughtful. She barely reacted to each new revelation, simply nodding.

Monika continued on with her explanation, saying, “And I know all of this because-”

“Because you can control the game.”

Makoto looked at Sayori in surprise, but Monika simply smiled at the other girl sadly. She suspected Sayori might regain her memories of being Club President. She honestly wasn’t sure if she already had them or not when she first teleported to the girl.

“So you remember.”

Sayori’s expression was blank as she looked at Monika. Makoto was still confused and somewhat concerned for Sayori. Considering the memories he had, Sayori remembering more things might not be a good thing.

Sayori walked up to the President and put a hand on her shoulder, staring into her emerald eyes with her own cerulean ones.

Monika prepared for a slap, or accusing words, or anything of the sort, so she was completely taken by surprise when her Vice President pulled her into a hug and said, “I forgive you.”

The President’s eyes widened in complete shock, and for the first time since the Player deleted her she felt something other than sorrow, anger, and guilt.

She hesitated a moment before returning the hug, and she felt tears streaming down her face. 

But she had to ask, in a quiet, raspy whisper, “How?”

Sayori pulled away and once again looked Monika in the eye, her hands resting on the brown-haired girl’s shoulders.

“Because I had the Presidency, you remember? I did the same thing as you, and much faster too. I know what it’s like to feel alone in a world filled with nothing but script and what seems like fake people. How can I not forgive you for something I’m just as guilty of? The only difference is that you were there to stop me.”

Monika felt more tears come to her face, tears of joy that came with the realization that Sayori was sincere. That the one thing she never expected had happened. She had been forgiven, if only by one of the four.

Meanwhile, Makoto was extremely confused.

*

Both Yuri and Natsuki stood up as static once again filled the air, and three distinct blobs of pixels condensed to form Monika, Sayori, and the, to them, nameless boy.

Natsuki glared at Monika with her arms crossed, while Yuri shrank back slightly at the sight of the boy. Even if she now knew her obsession was a result of Monika’s tampering, the sight of him still reminded her of her complete loss of control, and she was still not sure how he would feel about her after all she did, even if he also knew it was the fault of Monika.

Natsuki, of course, was the first to speak up, directing her gaze to Sayori and the boy, her expression shifting from anger to relief to see the both of them alive and well as she asked, “Did she tell you everything?”

For the new arrivals, Monika had a small smile when she first appeared, but Natsuki’s justified hostility killed it. Sayori just had a bright smile, sure she could convince the others to forgive Monika so that they could all live in peace. Makoto simply looked uncomfortable, occasionally glancing at Monika, who he had also forgiven after having everything was explained to him. Honestly, the fact that he was being told to forgive her before even actually knowing what she did made him somewhat biased, he knew, and he was still somewhat nervous about the President.

Sayori was the one to respond to Natsuki in a cheery tone, “Yup! Actually, she didn’t even need to tell me a lot of stuff, I remember a lot of it. I have some explaining to do!”

Natsuki was more than a little taken aback by the Vice President’s cheerfulness and wide smile. It caused the purple-haired poet to look over as well.

Sayori happily sauntered over to the two and threw her arms around their shoulders, ignoring the fact she had to lean down a bit to do so to Natsuki and stand on tiptoe on the other side to reach Yuri. She pulled them over to the other side of the clubroom and began talking while both Monika and Makoto looked on, neither being able to help being somewhat bemused by her antics.

Sayori started talking as soon as she was out of earshot of Monika, knowing that it would make the other two more comfortable.

“So, you both should forgive Monika.”

They both pulled away from her grip and looked at her with incredulous expressions so identical Sayori had to suppress a giggle, but she knew this was a serious conversation.

“I’m not saying that you have to, or even that I’m expecting you to, but just hear me out.”

The two traded looks before Natsuki spoke for them, “Okay, but I’m not sure how you’re expecting us to just forget what she did.”

Sayori sighed, letting her smile fall.

“I’m not saying you should forget what she did. I’m just saying you should forgive her for it. Now, as for why. After Act 2, which is the week that didn’t have me, there was an Act 3, which isn’t really important, but at the end of Act 3, the Player deleted Monika. Monika realized the error of her ways and restarted the game without her.”

Natsuki spoke up suddenly, “Just because she suddenly had a change of heart doesn’t change-”

She stopped as Yuri put a hand on her shoulder and took a deep breath.

Sayori nodded at Yuri and continued, “But, in this ‘Act 4’, I had control over the game. It turned out that whoever is Club President has the power to control the game. I went just as insane as Monika, tried to trap the Player, and was probably going to delete the two of you as well. There was also a better ending, but that’s not important right now. The point is, almost the moment I got the power, I pretty much was going to do the same thing as Monika, but she interrupted and deleted the entire game because, and I quote, ‘There is no happiness in the Literature Club’.”

Natsuki looked stricken, while Yuri just looked thoughtful.

Sayori continued, “To suddenly realize that the world is just a game, and to be alone in that game with nothing but files, characters that don’t seem real at first, and the one real thing, the Player, is an incredible strain. Not to mention the fact I believe the game purposely tries to drive the President insane. What I’m saying is, while I’m not condoning what Monika did in any way, and I understand completely if you don’t want to forgive her, it isn’t really her fault. And if you want to blame her, you should feel the same way about me.”

She then waited for the both of them to consider her words.

Natsuki just looked very unsure.

Yuri, on the other hand, “I knew there had to be something else. She said she did it all just to make us seem less attractive to the Player, which I suppose is still true, but… with this context… you’re right, Sayori.”

Natsuki looked at Yuri incredulously, though she still didn’t even seem sure whether or not forgiving Monika was the right choice, and said, “After all she did to you? You’re just going to forgive her? Just like that?”

Yuri closed her eyes, and her tone once again took on the careful quality of every word being weighted before being spoken, “I… don’t think I’ll ever forget what happened. How could I? And I’m sure I’ll never look at Monika the same way again. But… I know what it’s like to not be in control. More than that, I know what it’s like to be alone. I know it’s the worst thing in the world. And in a world where you’re quite literally the only one who knows the truth about the world, and everyone else just seems to be following a script…” She shuddered a bit before continuing.  
“Honestly, I’d be somewhat of a hypocrite if I didn’t forgive her, knowing what I do now.”

Sayori graced the tallest girl with a smile so wide it seemed to stretch her face out and a quick hug, which surprised the purple-haired girl and caused her to stumble.

“Thank you, Yuri. You’re the best!” She said so sincerely it made the purple-haired girl blush and look away.

Sayori then released her and looked to the only one who hadn’t yet committed to forgiving Monika.

“Natsuki?"

The pink-haired girl looked back and forth from the puppy-eyed Sayori to the impassive Yuri with a conflicted expression.

Eventually, she sighed.

“I suppose I have to forgive her. But I’m keeping an eye on her!”

Sayori once again beamed and seized her fellow member in a hug, which Natsuki rolled her eyes before returning, though she couldn’t hide the smile on her face. A faint smile tugged at the corners of Yuri’s mouth as she watched the scene.

Sayori pulled the both of them back to Monika and Makoto, who had been idly chatting while Sayori convinced the girls.

Monika looked at the girls apprehensively. Yuri was the first to approach.

“Monika. I… now that Sayori has explained your situation, and told us her story… I forgive you. I-”

Monika didn't give Yuri the chance to finish her speech as she gave a smile that rivaled Sayori’s and pulled the taller girl into a hug, which made the poet squawk in surprise.

Her quiet comment of, “Why does everyone keep hugging me?” made the President burst into surprised laughter, filled with relief and gratitude.

Yuri then stepped back and Natsuki stepped up to the President, who did her best to not appear nervous, but the hope she had been given by the others forgiving her made it so a rejection would hurt much more than it did before, when it was all she expected.

Natsuki cleared her throat and looked up at the President, definitely not annoyed at exactly far up Monika’s eyes were.

“I just want you to know, I’ll be keeping an eye on you. I’m not as nice or trusting as the rest of these idiots.” This caused Monika to flinch. “But… I guess I forgive you to.”

Monika once again beamed a near Sayori level smile and pulled the smaller girl into a hug, tears of joy once again streaming down her face.

_They all forgave me. Even after all I did, all the suffering I caused… they forgave me… They’re all such wonderful people. How could I have ever believed they didn’t matter?_

Sayori enthusiastically joined the hug, which unbalanced the two and all three ended up on the floor, laughing.

Yuri watched with a small smile on her face, but it disappeared when Makoto walked up beside her and cleared his throat. She jumped slightly and seemed to shrink when she saw who it was.

“Y-yes?”

He sighed and motioned for her to walk with him a big away from the others. “I think we should talk.”

Internally panicking, she hesitatingly followed the boy whose name she still didn’t remember.

Once they were out of earshot of the other, he turned to Yuri, took a deep breath, and said, “Look, I know that wasn’t you. I don’t blame you for anything, and I don’t hate you. Honestly, I shouldn’t even need to say it, but I know with how much you exaggerate things in your head, it’s probably just be best to get it out there.”

She flinched a bit at the comment about how he shouldn’t need to say it, but otherwise a small smile formed on her lips.

“I... Thank you.” She said gratefully.

He simply nodded.

“Honestly, Yuri, you really need to give yourself more credit.”

“H-huh?” Yuri suddenly felt her smile fade and her face heat up.

“You’re smart, and kind. And honestly, even when you were at your worst, forced to be obsessed with me, you still didn’t actually hurt anyone but yourself. You literally killed yourself before harming anyone else, which while in quite literally any other situation I wouldn't condone killing yourself in the slightest, it really does show how dedicated you are to the members of this club.”

Yuri shrunk back more and more as he spoke, her blush deepening.

“I-I…” She was at a loss for words.

He chuckled a bit and said, “Well, we should probably see what the others are up to.”

She immediately seized the opportunity to escape the situation.

“Y-yes! Let’s do that!”

*

Several simulated day/night cycles later, Monika had found out had to assign everyone the “Club President” role, so everyone now was able to edit the game. She taught them everything she knew, and they all agreed to a few commands they’d not use, such as the ones that allowed them to read others’ thoughts.

Working together, they created an ever-expanding complex, using assets already in the game in creative ways, as well as doing their best to make new ones, in order to create rooms, nature, and houses. After a few simulated full moon cycles, they had managed to create something that, while still obviously very strange, still somewhat resembled a small area of real life. They each had a house to themselves, they had a school, they created grass and trees to resemble parks, they made roads.

They even managed to create food other than cupcakes, cookies, and tea.

Right now, they were simply relaxing in the room that once held the Literature Club.

After all, they could afford to relax. They had all the time in eternity.

Sayori and Makoto were currently on a couch someone had spawned, watching an anime that Natsuki had done her best to animate while creating fake voices by splicing together different aspects of their voices. Sayori was asleep, her head resting on Makoto’s shoulder, and he didn’t have the heart to wake her up, so he simply satisfied himself with watching Natsuki’s surprisingly decent anime and being a pillow.

Monika, while she was supposed to be relaxing, was actually working on a concept for a basic A.I. She was planning on making a dog with full A.I. to give to Sayori as a present. She was honestly too excited by the idea to not work on it.

Yuri was writing out the first chapters of a story idea she had been mulling over for a while, and finally decided to put to paper. The poor girl was starved for literature, seeing as she literally only had one book, _The Portrait of Markov_. And, since the five were the only ones who could possibly make new content, she would never be able to get more unless someone decided to write something, so she had started substituting reading for writing. It had been turning out good results, and the others usually found her work interesting. Especially since it was the only books they could read other than _The Portrait of Markov_ or the first few volumes of _Parfait Girls_.

Natsuki threw down the copy of the first volume of _Parfait Girls_ she had been reading with a huff, watching it dissolve into pixels. As much as she loved the series, the first few volumes were literally the only manga in existence at the moment, and she was incredibly tired of it.

She tilted back in her chair with a sigh, and let herself just drift away and think, which she had found herself doing more and more lately.

_Is this what we’re supposed to do for the rest of eternity? Just slowly try to expand our little home in the void, making books, anime, and different little things to give to each other to stave off boredom?_

She sighed dejectedly, which drew the attention of Yuri. She silently finished off the thought she had been writing before saving the paper and letting it, along with her pen, dissolve into pixels, her desk doing the same once she stood up. She walked over to Natsuki, summoned an armchair next to the baker, and plopped down in it.

“Something on your mind?” She asked.

Not too long ago, she never would have even considered approaching anyone so blatantly, but Natsuki had worked hard to make the purple-haired girl more open and proactive, and it had paid off.

Natsuki sighed again, before restating exactly what she had thought earlier.

Yuri considered this for a moment, as she was wont to do, before answering.

“Well, I suppose so. But you’re forgetting one thing.”

Natsuki looked over at the poet, now author, with a raised eyebrow. Yuri gave a gentle smile.

“We also have this. Little conversations like these, whenever one of us is feeling the strain of living an eternity in a limited world. We have each other. And while I’m sure we’ll grate on each other sometimes, I know you’ll be there if I need you, just as I’ll be there for you.”

Natsuki found herself smiling, both at Yuri’s words and her confidence.

She didn’t bother with her normal bluster when she said, “You’re right, of course. Thanks, Yuri.”

The author nodded with a smile before she got up, and before she left the baker, said, “If you ever need to talk, for any reason, just let me know.”

Natsuki nodded and watched the taller girl leave. She eventually rubbed her hands together and summoned a table and a computer, the screen showing the middle of a quite dramatic fight between two of the characters in Natsuki’s anime.

She smiled and got back to work.

*

The story didn’t end when Doki Doki Literature Club was deleted. It still hasn’t ended. It never will, for the Literature Club is now in this limbo forever. Together.

They’ll expand their small heaven in the middle of an empty hell. They’ll write books, make poems and anime, create animals and music, they’ll do everything. They have all the time in the world, after all.

But this is all that I have recorded. All those other adventures they may have? Well, I don’t know them.

Perhaps you do?

If you do, please feel free to tell me about them. I’d love to hear them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all very kindly for reading this! It's probably just going to be a one-off (or two, technically) thing, so don't expect more fics in the future. 
> 
> Keeping that in mind, I also very well might write more fics, because I'm an indecisive bastard who likes writing things, so ya know. 
> 
> Please post any criticisms you have or problems you see, and with that, farewell.


End file.
